Oslo-based firm Snøhetta has had a busy month, first unveiling its highly-anticipated expansion of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and, just last week, announcing the opening of a new retail space it designed in Singapore.
The Aesop ION store, located in the ION Orchard shopping complex, is the second Snøhetta-designed Aesop space in Singapore. Snøhetta and the popular Australian skin, hair, and body care brand have also collaborated on two other stores (one in Oslo, and another in Berlin.)
Inside the brass-accented boutique, an "upside-down forest" of timber battens hangs from the ceiling, paying homage to the Orchard district, which used to be a nutmeg plantation. The walls are painted a deep pink to reference the color of mace, the covering of the nutmeg seed, while the sisal carpeting matches the dark ceiling above.
The interiors complement Aesop's signature packaging fashioned after old medicine bottles, creating an atmosphere that is moody, luxurious, and transporting.